Application developers typically test new code before putting the code into use in a production database. The application developers usually test the new code in a development database, which is a test environment that mirrors the production database but does not affect customer data in the production environment.
Unfortunately, differences accumulate between the production environment and the development environment due to use of the production environment. For example, additional customers may be added to a database in new rows or additional information be recorded in a new column in a database. These differences may cause issues, such as execution issue for the application, when the application that was tested in the development database is implemented in the production database.
Users attempt to update the development database but this ad hoc process is not ideal. The users may set up a regular update schedule but doing so wastes resources and time when updating is not necessary. The user may also wait until an issue occurs when implementing the application in the production database but this also causes delayed time and frustration for the user when an update was beneficial but not performed and revisions are required for the application.
Thus, there is a need for a system and method that can assist users in updating development databases to reduce the likelihood that implementation of an application in a production database will encounter issues.